


Fixed

by offensiveagentpie



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Arthur is the king of making bad days better, Fluff, Gen, Martin Crieff has a bad day...surprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 09:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/offensiveagentpie/pseuds/offensiveagentpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin Crieff can never seem to catch a break.  Arthur, however, knows just what to do to make it better.</p><p>Part of the 100 prompts challenge:  72. Fixed</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fixed

In the long running marathon of bad days in the life of Martin Crieff, this one had quickly climbed near top of the list. At the beginning of this bad day, Martin awoke to discover that his alarm clock did not ring, making him 15 minutes late. Flinging the blankets away, he went to stand up only to fall over, his ankle tangled in the sheet.

After untangling himself, he rushed to the shower and found the water to be absolutely freezing. It was only after emerging, shaking from head to foot, that one of his house mates knocked on the door to warn him that the water heater had broken the night before.

Hurrying into his uniform, he groaned as two buttons popped off his jacket, ticking and clinking their way down his furnace vent. He agonized for a moment over retrieving them, but a glance at the clock forced his decision. A pilot missing two buttons was better than a pilot that was now almost a half hour late.

The day also gave him the pleasant surprise of finding the passenger side mirror smashed on his van (which took no less than 13 tries to start). After reaching the airfield with (oh thank god) no further incidents, he managed to trip on a shoelace as he approached GERTI, ripping a spot in the left knee of his trousers and sending his hat flying off his head. Grumbling, he limped over to retrieve his hat, only to find that one of the gold braids had been disconnected on one side, leaving it to dangle in front of his face as he donned his cap with a, ‘Oh damn it all!’.

He entered the plane, managing to say a ‘Hello’ that didn’t sound like a sullen curse upon the world, when Arthur greeted him with his standard cheerfulness.

‘Wow, Skip, you look really awful!’ Arthur said, after he had gotten a better look at the Captain.

‘Yes’, came Douglas’s voice from the Galley doorway. ‘You do. Running late, uniform disheveled…and my, what a cantankerous expression graces the features of Sir this morning.’

‘I am well aware of my appearance, thank you very much.’ Martin replied bitterly. ‘Especially since I was the one going through all of the events which got me in this state.’

‘Dear me, quite tetchy as well.’

‘Aw, don’t be like that, Skip. Why don’t I make you some coffee? Mum just got this new instant stuff that’s actually really, really good. Even Douglas said so!’ Arthur grinned and Douglas made a sound of agreement, lifting the cup he was holding.

‘That’s alright, Arthur. I just want to get into the flight deck do the checks and try to make sure that nothing else goes wrong today.’ Martin began making his way past Douglas, but Arthur caught his sleeve.

‘It’ll be no time at all there’s still some left from the first pot I made and—‘

‘It’s fine, Arthur really I—‘

His shoelace had become untied again causing him to lose his balance slightly. Arthur, still holding on to his sleeve, swung out to gain some equilibrium, hitting Douglas’s arm and spilling Douglas’s coffee down the front of Martin’s uniform.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment. Martin closing his eyes and looking very much like a father who had just said: ‘I’ll give you till the count of 10’ to an unruly child. Douglas, looking rather nonchalant as usual, and Arthur staring at the coffee stain slowly spreading over Martin’s coat and shirt.

‘Oh dear…Skip I am really, really sorry.’

Martin exhaled slowly through his nose.

‘…I could still get you a cup and I suppose make more because now Douglas is going to need some more because most if his is…well…’

‘Today,’ Martin began, ‘I woke late, tripped, froze, messed up my uniform, found out that my lousy van had been vandalized, tripped again which messed up my uniform further, and I have just been doused with coffee. I don’t want another cup, I don’t want anything! I want to do the checks, hope that nothing will explode during this bloody cargo flight, get to the hotel without any further damage to any of my possessions, and sleep until this day from hell is over!’

‘Are you su-?’

‘YES!’

Martin stomped into the flight deck, shutting the door behind him and missing Arthur flinching and looking apologetically after him.

A few minutes later, Douglas entered the flight deck. Marin sat, still fuming and almost wishing Douglas would make a comment, just so he could let off some more steam.

‘Checks finished?’ Douglas asked with a calm tone to his voice

‘Yes.’ Martin grumbled.

‘Everything…hunky dory?’

‘Yes.’

They went through takeoff with no problems whatsoever, Martin slowly unwinding as the flight got underway. The casual familiarity of the procedures and the low thrum of the engines calmed him considerably. Eventually, with a visible slumping of his shoulders, he leaned back against his chair with a sigh.

‘All calmed down then, Martin?’ Douglas turned to look at him. ‘Or at least it no longer looks like you’re the world’s angriest statue.’

Martin ran a hand over his face, now he just felt tired. ‘Yeah. Sorry about that…outburst before. This has just been a really bad day, that's all.’

‘No, no it’s quite alright. I have heard from others that bad days can, indeed, be rather frustrating.’

The door opened and Carolyn entered. ‘I have been sent to inform my most dutiful of pilots that dinner is no longer being served. Apparently the instructions to remove the foil wrapper escaped Arthur’s attention and our microwave is completely kaput.’

As if on cue, Martin’s stomach gave a loud grumble. ‘Isn’t there anything else on board?’ he moaned miserably.

Carolyn tossed packets of cashews to them both. ‘You’ll have to make due. I hadn’t stocked up on much, believing this to be a rather short and simple cargo trip. Which, you’d think by now I’d have come to accept as an impossibility from you lot. Besides, if we had anything else, I hardly think Arthur is in the condition to cook it.’

Douglas quirked and eyebrow, ‘Oh, and why is that?’

‘After nearly exploding the microwave, he mentioned something about how he didn’t want to, ‘make Skip’s day even worse’. Then he stopped and stared wide eyed into thin air, before running off with mobile phone in hand, whispering ‘I know just what to do’. To say I’m worried doesn’t begin to cover it.’

Douglas and Carolyn both turned to Martin.

‘What? … Oh god. I-I have no idea what he’s doing! I mean…I may have let a little steam off, but it wasn’t directed at him! Oh god.’

‘Well,’ Carolyn said matter-of-factly. ‘You’ll have plenty of time to discover what surprises have in store when you room with him tonight.’

‘What?’

‘Yes, the microwave will need repaired. This will cost money. And since you were apparently the reason behind Arthur’s more than usually distracted cooking, you will be sharing a room with him to cut costs.’

‘But, what about Douglas?’

‘Douglas would just find a way to get a room of his own anyway, I am saving you both time and, I’m certain, embarrassment.’

‘She is right you know,’ said Douglas as Carolyn left.

Martin sighed, ‘I suppose.’

‘Shame though…that I forgot my camera. One must never miss an opportunity to immortalize a moment when Arthur knows just what to do.’

Martin groaned, not looking forward to that night at all.

—-----

The delivery went well. A fact that made Martin feel quite better, despite his growing dread over arriving at the hotel. He would apologize to Arthur absolutely; there was no problem with that. He did not, however, feel like sitting through Arthur’s ‘There Has to be Something in every Drawer’ ritual. Nor did he feel like dealing with any of Arthur’s cheer up strategies. There was a limit on how many times a grown man could watch ‘The Lion King’ back to back.

They arrived at the hotel and stood before the reception desk, Arthur being unnervingly quiet the entire time. Carolyn took the keys, handing one to Douglas, and raising an eyebrow went to hand one to Martin. ‘Arthur, wha-‘

‘It’s alright Mum! I took care of everything, no worries.’ He reached forward taking the key before Martin had even raised his hand.

‘For some reason I think I should be very worried.’

‘Nope, it was all me. I double and triple checked everything!’

They began trekking up to their rooms, Douglas and Carolyn turning to the left in the hallway. Martin made to follow them but Arthur stopped him.

‘This way!’ he said brightly, though he was noticeably watching Martin and his reactions.

‘Are you sure, Arthur? Our rooms are usually next to each other.’ 

‘Yep, positive, our room is this way.’

They walked past a few doors and Martin cleared his throat. ‘Arthur, um, about earlier, I didn’t mean to snap at you. It was just a lot of things had happened and…’

‘No worries, Skip!’ Arthur replied. ‘Bad days happen. Besides, I’ve got something that’ll make it up to you!’

He stopped at a door with a plaque bearing the inscription ‘Deluxe Suite’. Martin hesitated. ‘Arthur, are you sure this is…’

Arthur opened the door, swinging his arms wide as the room was revealed. ‘Surprise! Isn’t it brilliant?’

Martin couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping a bit. Inside the room was the largest bed he had ever seen, covered in a thick blanket and lots of fluffy pillows. It looked like the comfiest place on the planet.

‘What on earth?’

Arthur was grinning from ear to ear, clearly pleased with the reaction. ‘Well, when I realized you were having a bad day, I remembered this really amazing room that I saw on the hotel’s website. So, I called and booked it, because a great, big fluffy bed is a brilliant way to make a bad day better!’

‘You…this…this is for me?’ Martin was utterly flabbergasted. No one had ever done anything like this for him before.

‘Yeah! Do you like it?’

‘Arthur…you didn’t have to spend—‘

‘Never mind about that, Skip. I just really wanted to make it better.’

Martin gave him a small nod, fighting against the lump forming in his throat. ‘Thank you, Arthur…I-I really don’t know what to say…’

Arthur laid a comforting hand between his shoulders. ‘Personally,’ he said in a conspiratorial whisper. ‘I wouldn’t say anything. I’d put my suit case down, run up to the bed, and do a really big flop right into the pillows!’

Once the idea had been presented, Martin couldn’t help but smile. ‘That is, if I may say so, a brilliant idea.’

‘Isn’t it?’

‘Do you know what would be better though?’

‘What?’

‘If we both did a really big flop at the same time.’

Arthur looked as though he had just been told Christmas had come early. ‘CAN WE?!’

‘On the count of three!’ they dropped their bags, counting together.

‘One! Two! THREE!’

They launched themselves across the room, leaping into the bed, landing in the pillows with a fwump and muffled laughter. They rolled around for a few moments, Martin snuggling into the pillows and Arthur, sitting up laughing, his hair ruffled.

Rolling onto his side, Martin noticed Arthur looking down at him, he flashed him a smile. ‘Well, Mr. Shappey, congratulations are in order.’

Arthur’s eyebrows rose. ‘For what?’

‘For giving me one of my best moments on one of my worst days.’

‘Everything is all fixed then?’

‘Without a doubt.’

‘Brilliant!’

**Author's Note:**

> I may have cheated a bit with this one. I had this fic previously written for [this](http://amenaza.tumblr.com/post/19530965289/im-often-just-completely-happy-you-wanted) picture by my friend Ame, but it fit the prompt so well that I had to use it.


End file.
